Bathtub Trash
by Mutare Electri
Summary: Gaz knew that Zim was doing something stupid in there, but finding the alien drunk in the bathtub wasn't exactly what she expected. (Drunk on Cream Soda Wooooooooo.)


**I'M SORRY IF GAZ IS OOC. I TRIED TO AVOID IT. I COULDN'Tafeiwoafcewfehaof**

**Anyway, this has been floating around on my computer for a while, so I decided to post it. Meh, it's one in the morning. It's technically Monday. I should go to bed.**

**I own nothing and if you see any typos or other issues please tell me so I can try and fix them plz n' thnk q zzzzzz...**

"Zim, open the god damn door right now, or you're going to regret the day you ever landed here!" Gaz threatened as she twisted the door handle. She heard an inaudible grumble on the other side. She growled and pressed her ear to the door, trying to hear something. Anything. "What are you even doing in there?" she demanded. "You don't have a bladder or intestines, so don't even try that card on me."

Having to live with the alien made her, however unwillingly, learn more about his anatomy than she had ever cared to. Like the fact that he had two toes, and the claws on them clicked wherever he went barefoot. And how he never seemed to have to use the bathroom. In fact, the bathroom was the most avoided room in the whole house, besides her own. Why was he using it now? "None of your business!" he snarled, as if answering her thoughts. "Be gone, Stink beast!"

She stepped away, baring her teeth and cracking her knuckles at the door. "You aren't going to be civil about this? she growled questioningly. He growled back in reply. She shrugged. "Alright then". Then she lifted her steel-toed boot and kicked the door open.

It flew open on the first try and hit the wall, the doorknob flying out of it and hitting the floor with a loud clatter. She caught the door as it ricoched, and scanned the tiled room. The bathtub was on the wall in front of her, the toilet and counter to the left of the small divider wall. Empty cans of cream soda were scattered here and there on the linoliem floor, but there was nothing else odd. Obviously, there was no alien in the room. "Zim?" she asked, still annoyed.

"Mmm."

She blinked as another empty can was tossed out of the bathtub by a gloved hand. It dissappeared back into the tub. She blinked, surprised. Then she composed herself and made her way over to where she now knew he was, her black nightgown flowing eeirily behind her. She reached it and peered over the edge, already knowing what she'd see. And there he was, curled up in the bottom of the empty bathtub in all his extra terrestrial 'glory'.

His light green skin was paler than usual, and his black, sythe-like anteannas were lowered down to his shoulders, extremely odd for the egotistical space monster. He still had his black pants and red-striped uniform, but it looked crooked and unkept. Dispite his pathetic-looking appearance though, he stared up at her with the same annoyed pupil-less magenta eyes.

"You broke da door" he snarled in greeting, sounding a little slurred. Gaz looked him up and down, noticing the black circles around his eyes and the droop of his anteannas. Suddenly the cream soda made sense. She looked at him calmly.

"Are you drunk?" she asked, eyebrow raised quizzically.

"I chose this room 'cause it had a lock n' you broke it, hyooman" he growled, ignoring her question. He closed an eye and hiccupped. "A-an' you're gonna blame it on me, huh? Even tho' it wasn't my-" he hiccupped again and Gaz shook her head.

"Zim..." She rubbed her eyes with one hand, her question already answered. She sighed and crossed her arms, staring down at him with her black-outlined golden eyes. "Why would a lock matter, Zim?" she asked, still agaitated but not enough to yell at him. "Why did you lock the door?"

He glared at the wall of the bathtub for a while in silence. When Gaz opened her mouth to ask him again, he spoke. "'Cause I didn't want the Dib-monster to see me..." he muttered finally. Gaz blinked.

"Why only Dib? Why not me?" she asked, not really caring but curious anyway.

"'Cause you're da only one I knew wouldn't care if I was drunk" he answered, one eye still closed.

She blinked in surprise. "Well... I guess that's true" she replied. Then she looked at him again, one eyebrow raised in curiousity. "Why are you drunk, anyway?"

"Because everything sucks." She blinked again, and he went on. "_Everything!_ 'S like... 's like everyones out to _get_ me... They all hate me... What else can I _do? _My leaders banished me, they took Gir... My entire life was a lie. I was s'posed to die on the way here, they blew up my base and took everything with 'em, so now I have to live at my enemy's house where scary sisters kick doors and break doorknobs, and Dib keeps laughing at me an' sayin' that he's gonna scoop my guts out for the world to see... so here I am." He spread his arms, hiccuped, and dropped them again. "I'm drunk in my enemy's bathtub. Whoop-de-doo." He giggle/snorted, but his eyes were angry. Then he sighed, shaking his head slowly. His expression melted. "What'm I s'posed to _do_, Gaz?"

She blinked at that. His voice had cracked at her name. Her real name. Not 'Gaz-beast' or 'Little-Gaz' or 'Dib-sister'. Just... Gaz. He had spoken it so quietly, too. The quietest she'd ever heard from him.

"I'm... I'm stuck here" he continued. "At your brothers' mercy. I'm... I've been banished by my planet. I've been abandoned... They left me. Like... like _trash_..." He hiccuped, again, but this was because of something different. He sniffled and looked up at her. She was shocked to see that tears were rising in his magenta eyes. His anteannas were splayed around his head sickly and his tearful eyes were wide and scared.

"Gaz?" he squeaked, voice strangled and tight. "Am I _trash?"_

She stared down at him, eyes visible but otherwise expressionless. Inside, she was shocked. This was Zim! The alien invader that had wanted to destroy the planet! That hated the humans guts, and lived only for himself. The narcassistic little spaceman that had wanted to rule the world. And here he was, drunk in a bathtub in his enemy's house, abandoned by his people, nowhere to go and no one to turn to. He was so fragile-looking. So broken and defeated. What had happened to the Irken Invader she had known 2 months ago? His tears overflowed down his face and he dropped his head back down on the floor of the tub, closing his eyes. That's when she realized it. The conquorer had been conquored.

She watched him weep and choke for a few seconds, face blank. She shouldn't care. She was Gaz, she didn't care about anything. But there was just something... _wrong_ about watching the little alien cry. It just wasn't right, in a way.

She sighed. "No" she said. Then she sat down on her knees and reached into the bathtub to brush the back of her hand down his cheek. She was sickened with herself, but... he needed it. And he was drunk. He probably wouldn't remember it anyway.

"No, Zim" she said in a soft monotone voice. "You aren't trash."

He stared up at her, tears streaming, eyes wide. She looked down at him calmly while she continued to pet his face, showing that she meant it. He sobbed and grabbed her hand, roughly crushing it to his cheek, but she didn't care. He nuzzled it feverishly, holding it with both hands. Then he sobbed loudly and, before she knew it, he was sitting up and had her in a tight hug, arms around her neck. If it had been anyone else, she would have maimed them the second they laid hands on her. But this was... different.

"You aren't a smelly stink-beast" she heard him cry into her neck, making her raise her eyebrows. That was high praise, from him. It didn't sound like much, but the fact that it was Zim that had said it made it the best compliment in the world.

She sighed and rested her hand on his metal backpack, the other on his shoulder. He sobbed and whined something else, but she couldn't understand it. So she just held him and moved her hand to his actual back, patting it every so often. "I know, Zim" she murmered, keeping her face blank. She just looked tired. "I know, shh..." He cried something about Dib and the Tallest, his leaders, and sobbed again. "I know, I know. It'll be alright. You'll see. Shh..."

He hiccupped, holding her tighter. "An'... an' everybody thinks... thinks I dun see... I dun see what's goin' on, and... but... but I do, and... an' I know they hate me, but I tried so hard... I tried so hard, an' it... it just wasn't... I wasn't... Gaaaz..."

"Shh..." She sighed and actually hugged him as she felt his sobs starting to get more violent as he lost control. She didn't mind, she only held him tighter. It went on for a while and he continued to cry and murmer about things. She honestly couldn't understand him, and at times it didn't even sound like he was speaking english, but she listened anyway. She kinda felt bad for the little guy. By the way he kept telling her everything, even through his sobs, she could tell that this had been building up for a while. She was happy to be an outlet. She didn't know how long they sat there, but eventually it was over. His sobbing quieted to mere hiccups, and he had stopped mumbling. After a while she rubbed his back tenderly and turned her head slightly torwards him.

"Are you okay, now?" she asked, not un-kindly. She heard him gulp and hiccup again, but eventually she felt him nod. She patted his back and gently pushed him away. He clung on for a second, but finally allowed her to lean away enough to see him. His hands remained on her shoulders as she looked him over. His head was hanging and his anteannas were limp and drooped around his face. Gaz felt a small twinge of pity for the tiny space man. He just looked so pathetic.

He let out a small whimpering whine and hiccupped again.

"Hey," she said softly, gingerly grabbing his chin and lifting his face up into sight. His anteannas were still limp and framed his pale green face, tear trails down his cheeks. His magenta eyes were half open, still brimming with tears. They were focused on her, but they looked exhausted and weary. She could see her wavering reflection in the dark pink while a few more tears rolled down his face and his lip trembled.

"You have such pretty eyes," she said quietly. He closed them breifly and she raised her other hand to brush the new tears away. "C'mon, Zim, don't cry anymore. You're tougher than that."

He shook his head and his hands fell from her shoulders and landed limply on the side of the bathtub. His lip quivered. "No'm not," he mumbled, hiccupping again.

Gaz sighed and let him go, letting him pout for a while alone. He hung his head again and she noticed that he was swaying slightly, off-balance. His balance seemed to get worse and worse, until finally he fell back. Gaz quickly reached out and caught him before his head cracked open on the porcelin.

She let out a breath, holding his body up with one hand and holding his head against her shoulder with the other.

"Jeeze, Zim. How many have you had?" she asked him sharply. She glanced around the linolium, seeing the empty cans everywhere. He gulped thickly, not answering. She patted his back for a second, until she heard him hiccup and lean on her heavily.

"Are you tired?" she asked softly. He nodded and she sighed, eventually nodding as well. "Alright. Let's get you to bed." She held him away a little, holding his shoulders. His head dropped and he quickly raised it, before letting it drop again. Gaz smirked.

"Alright, c'mon," she said, standing up while holding his shoulders so he didn't try to give himself a concussion again. She bent down and slid her hands under his arms, using them to pull him up. He managed to get his feet under him and stood, holding onto her arms tightly.

"Okay, now you just need to step over the side, okay?" she said. He nodded clumsily and stepped over the edge of the porceline tub with one black boot, the bottom thunking on the linolium floor. He tried to pull the other one out but ended up tripping and nearly falling over. If Gaz hadn't been holding him up the whole time, he would have.

He stood, swaying slightly with his arms limply at his sides and his head hanging. Gaz held his shoulders to keep him from falling over, and was once again surprised by his height. He bearly came up to her chest, his head level with the beginning of her rib cage. He was... what? A hundred and sixty-six? And he was bearly the size of a five year old.

She sighed and looked around the room. The white linolium floor was broken up by random empty cans that were scattered everywhere. She kind of thought it was amusing that he could get drunk off of cream soda, but not regular alcohol. She and Dib had figured that out at one of their dad's annual employee barbeques about a month ago. Having only cream soda and water to drink, it had been pretty lame until Zim gave into Dib's taunts and tried the soda. It had been a lot more interesting from then on out. Zim had a good time, to say the least, and they had an even better time watching him. Ironically, that had probably been the first time they all had actually gotten along.

Zim hiccupped and swayed on his feet, eyes half closed with his anteannas limp. He had been a much happier drunk before.

"What I want to know is who is going to clean this up before Dib gets back," she said, looking around the room. He glanced around, then hung his head lower.

"'M sorry..." he muttered.

Gaz shook her head. "I'll do it," she said with a sigh, making him lower his head even more. Under other circumstances she would have had him clean it up himself, right then and there. But, as much as she claimed she was, she wasn't heartless. He had been through a lot. He was entitled to have a breakdown without getting a bunch of crap for it.

"Alright," she said suddenly, still holding his shoulders. "Let's get you to bed."

He swayed a little bit. "Mmm..." Then he looked up and held his arms out, a dopey look on his face. "Carry me?"

She stared down at him blankly. She would clean up his mess, but that was a little much.

"No."

His arms dropped and he hung his head.

She rolled her eyes. "C'mon," she said, grabbing his upper arm and starting towards the door. He followed clumsily, dragging his feet. She lead him to and out the door, looking back just in time to see him walk face-first into the doorframe.

She tried not to laugh as he held his head and made a noise that sounded like 'fffff.'

"C'mon," she said again through a smirk, pulling him gently around the wall. He continued following her, although his hands stayed on his head. They walked down the hallway to the left, passing her room and Dib's and finally stopping at the last door at the end. It had originally been a guest room, but it was Zim's now. He was sort of like a guest, anyway. A permanent one.

She turned the knob and pushed open the door, walking in and dragging Zim along. It was dark, but the digital clock on the nightstand gave off enough light so that she didn't need to turn on the real one. The bed was on the far wall, the nightstand right next to it. The bed was just white and blue, as were the walls and the closet off to the left. It seemed extremely plain for a room that Zim was inhabiting, but he never really was one for decorating.

There were some clothes on the floor, but she just walked on them as she lead him over to the bed. He followed behind, tripping on things and stumbling. She made sure he didn't fall over.

They reached the bed and she pulled him around to the side, letting him go so he could climb up. He blinked at her blankly and she rolled her eyes. She grabbed underneath his arms and picked him up, putting him on the covers. He sat there for a second, staring at her. "Lay down," she said, well, ordered. He blinked and laid down, dropping his head onto the pillow. She looked him up and down. He was dwarfed by the normal-sized bed, to the point where it was almost comical. But Gaz kept a straight face as she examined him.

"Take your boots off," she said. "You'll be more comfortable," she added when he stared at her in confusion. His face smoothed over and he tilted his head to the side so he could see his feet. He rubbed the toe of one boot against the other's heel a few times, trying to get it off and failing horribly. Gaz watched impatiently as he struggled. After what seemed like forever she let out an exhasperated sigh.

"Okay, okay, just... here." She sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed his leg roughly. He let out a whimper and she rolled her eyes. She did, however, loosen her grip a little. She held his calf with one hand and grabbed the back of his heel with the other, gently sliding the whole boot off and revealing his double-toed green feet. She vaugly wondered why all of his digits ended in sharp points as she pulled off the other one. She grabbed both boots and discarded them on the floor next to the bed. When she was done she looked him up and down again.

He watched her with a blank expression, eyes nearly closed in exhaustion. She knew that he would probably complain about being cold if she just left him like that. And she did need to get the bathroom cleaned up before Dib got home. So she eventually sighed and moved her position to sit beside him. She grabbed the edge of the blanket that was bunched up underneath him. He wasn't very heavy at all, so it was fairly easy to slide it out from under him. She straightened out the knots and twists in it and draped it over him. He merely watched as she made sure it was covering his feet, then reached down to grab the comforter at the foot of the bed.

She pulled it up to his chin, then gently folded it back over itself a little so it wasn't choking him. 'Since when did I start tucking little alien brats in at night?' she mused to herself, trying not to smirk. As she was straightening the blankets a little more he suddenly spoke.

"Gaz?"

She glanced at him, still working on the blankets. He was still looking at her with that blank/tired look on his face.

"Yeah?" she asked. She was expecting the usual drunken mumbling he had before. But when he spoke it was surprisingly clear.

"Are you my friend?"

She paused in her blanket smoothing and raised her eyebrows. That was a loaded question. And definantly not one Zim would normally ask. Well, getting drunk in the bathtub and bawling his heart out to the sister of his arch nemisis weren't things he would normally do either, but there was something about this that made it different. He was too calm and coherent for it to be meaningless. She had a feeling that this would be something he would remember when he woke up in the morning. She had to be careful.

She she shrugged and went back to smoothing out the blankets, eyes still partually closed nonchalantly. "Well, do you consider me a friend?" she asked calmly. He was quiet for a while, looking at her. Eventually she saw him nod out of the corner of her eye.

So she sighed and finished the blanket straightening. She looked at him again, seeing that he had the same expression. She placed a hand on his blanket covered stomach and allowed one corner of her mouth to twitch upwards. "Then I guess I am," she replied, patting his stomach gently.

He blinked slowly and she unconciously rubbed his stomach a little. His eyes closed at the attention. She smiled a tiny bit and continued to do that for a while. Eventually his breathing had slowed down so much that she thought he fell asleep. So she removed her hand from his midsection and started to get up.

"Gaz?"

His voice sounded small and child-like. She raised an eyebrow and looked back down at him. He looked like he was struggling to keep his eyes open.

"What?" she asked softly. He tilted his head a little and looked up at her, concious but still trying to fall asleep.

"Will you... sit... with me?"

She blinked in surprise. But then she shook her head, holding back a laugh. "No. I can't sit with you anymore, Zim," she said, causing him to pout a little. "I have to clean up the mess you made in the bathroom before Dib gets back, remember?"

He only pouted a little more and she rolled her eyes. He could be such a baby sometimes. She patted his shoulder and decided to humor him a little bit anyway. "But I will sit until you fall asleep, okay? How's that?" She knew that it wouldn't be long until he passed out. By the looks of it he might as well be asleep right now.

It caused him to smile dreamily anyway. "M'kay," he said, closing his eyes. His anteanna flicked, catching Gaz's eye. She thought about it for a second. It might make him fall alseep faster...

So, with a shrug, she reached up and gently pet the appendage. His face twitched and his head turned a little with a quiet "mm," sound. She knew it felt good to him. She had never actually seen him enjoy it before, but no one ever touched them like this. She just knew that they were sensitive to touch, as Dib had tugged on them a few times, causing Zim to hiss and glare at him, holding them down protectively. So, if they were sensitive and got hurt when they were pulled on, petting them wouldn't feel bad, would it?

Apparently not. After a few seconds Zim's eyebrows raised and he sighed contentedly. He tilted his head back into her hand a little. She smirked. After a few more seconds his breathing had evened out and he went still. She slowly pulled her hand away. He didn't react. She smiled and stood up slowly, trying to be as quiet as possible. His face remained impassive, though he snuggled into the pillow a little more.

One anteanna was pushed down by the pillow, poking up towards his chin. The other was standing above his head. Both his eyes were closed and one ungloved hand was poking out of the blanket, palm up.

Oh god, he was so cute. Gaz shook her head, trying to get that thought out of her head. But she smirked a little anyway. He was going to be the same little alien brat she had gotten used to when he woke up, she knew. He might even be worse, what with the headache the hangover was going to bring. She went quietly to the door and walked out. She turned to swing the door shut behind her and she looked at him. Her smirk turned into a genuine smile at his serene expression. It was the calmest she had ever seen him before. Maybe he should drink more often.

She chuckled quietly to herself and shut the door, preparing to go collect the scattered cans all over the bathroom before Dib got home.


End file.
